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Thursday, 8 September 2016

Review | Summer at Oyster Bay ~ Jenny Hale

They say falling in love is easy. But what if you know it’ll break your heart?For Emily Tate, returning to her charming childhood home Oyster Bay is like coming up for air after the fast pace of her city life. At the farm her grandfather built, surrounded by sister Rachel’s chatter, Gram’s buttermilk biscuits, and the soft, white sand, Emily is reminded of exactly who she is and what she holds most dear.

When Emily starts work at elegant Water’s Edge Inn, Charles Peterson, the handsome new owner, asks for her help. He wants to expand and needs Emily to teach him the local ways, so he can convince the planning commission. Emily vows to make him fall in love with her hometown, just the way it is.

At work, Charles is reserved and serious, yet once Emily has him kicking off his shoes in the sand and sailing across the glistening Chesapeake Bay, she sees another side to him, and their easy rapport feels like the start of something big.

But when it becomes clear Charles’s plans for the inn involve bulldozing Oyster Bay, Emily is heartbroken. Will she lose her home and Charles all at once, or can she save Oyster Bay, and give true love a chance?

Jenny Hale is a relatively new author to my collection, and whilst I have purchased her complete back catalogue, other than Summer at Oyster Bay the only other book I have read is last years festive release, Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses.

What I loved about that book is that as soon as I started reading I felt like a big warm blanket was wrapped around me. As I was absorbing the words Jenny had written down, I could feel myself falling in love with the characters as they fell in love with each other.

Summer at Oyster Bay was no exception.

We are introduced to Emily as she is about to embark on a new phase of her life. She's moved back to her family home with her Gram and is starting a new job as an events coordinator at the local Inn.

And all this has come about because Emily decline a marriage proposal realising that she simply didn't love Brad any more. I've been in that situation where you realise the love just isn't there and I too moved back home and practically re-started my life, so right from the outset I had a soft spot for Emily.

On her first day of work, she bumps into Charles Peterson in a local shop who turns out to be the new owner of the Inn she is employed at. Charles has some big plans for expanding the Inn although he is having trouble convincing the local committee.

Asking Emily for help on local knowledge in a bid to win the committee over, we can clearly see Charles relax and the pair start to form feelings.

Emily is completely torn between a rock and hard place as she likes Charlie, loves how he gets on with her Gram and sister's family but there is the flip side as Gram reveals she's already sold him her land and Emily resents him for destroying all her family memories.

Emily makes it her mission to try and change Charlie's mind by showing him her beloved horse Eli and his barn, the swings hovering over the sand at the bottom of the garden and the small pier hidden away. Emily completely opens up to Charlie and tells him about all these things which her made by her beloved Papa before he passed away and how everything has a place in her heart.

No matter how hard she tries, or how close the pair get it seems that the renovations go ahead and we are left to wonder just how Emily and Charlie will end up.

Jenny Hale described the locations and settings in Summer at Oyster Bay wonderfully. I felt as though I could feel the sand and the sea on my toes as I was reading.

Along with the gorgeous tension filled romance scenes in the book, there were some really nice lighthearted moments too - primarily involving Emily's niece Clara and her dog Flash which kept the everything light and fresh.

Of course there were some heaver points within the story too with the sub plots of her sisters marriage and Gram's health.

Although I felt Summer at Oyster Bay was a little predictable in places, it worked as it was one of them stories that ultimately was utterly romantic with great epilogue fast forwarding and really finishing off the story.

At the time of reading Summer at Oyster Bay, Jenny's 2016 Christmas novel was announced - it has the same beautifully picturesque cover as this book and the others by Jenny, and with her becoming a firm favourite author, I cannot wait to read All I Want For Christmas!